


What if Reed and Victor were gay and in love? That's the whole premise thanks for coming to my ted talk

by spectralspices



Category: Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Marvel
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 21:13:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12826206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spectralspices/pseuds/spectralspices
Summary: They're gay. And In Love. And This is....a Thing. Not THE Thing. But he's in there!He...sure is in there. I'm uploading this because I wrote it and forgot why.





	1. ONE

When they first met, his attitude had been that of a predator whose territory was being infringed upon. After all, Victor Von Doom was known for his pride, eclipsing all other senses-He suffered not the prattling of fools. Richards seemed to insist on forcing him to do so anyway.

“I see someone else is as anxious to see the science labs as I am! My name is Richards, fella-Reed Richards!” The gaunt man of twenty years had burst into the lab with an attitude of mirth, disrupting Victor’s train of thought. 

“That is no concern of mine.” It was his first impulse, a dismissive line that would drive most away-At least in the few days he had attended Empire State University. Its first failure was found there.

“What do you mean? Is my name no concern, or my excitement to see all this equipment?” The fact that the conversation continued was reason enough for Doom to cease attempting to ignore him-He was being annoying enough to divert his attention. 

“Both. Now, if you'll excuse me, Victor Von Doom has-”

He was interrupted by the snapping of the interlopers fingers. “Victor Von Doom! I thought you looked familiar. You designed that fire suppression grenade-got the Scholarship! I got in the same way.”

Victor stood with a slight degree of curiosity. This...Richards fellow seemed like an average American-Boisterous, loud, and uncaring for the manners of a more civilized time. But he claimed to have been admitted via scholarship…

“I somehow doubt that.” He stepped out at a rather quick pace, the sound of awkward footsteps and the shifting of a suitcase the unfortunate tells that he was...pursued. 

“I designed a basic gravity inverter-It could float seven feet in the air with two D-batteries! It’ll be the first in a long line of near-emissionless flight-At least, that’s what the people who granted me the scholarship said.” Despite the crowds that filled the halls, Victor was unable to shake his “companion”. Still, that was a rather incredible device. Perhaps...he had found an equal…?

“We should stay in touch, Vic. I’ll bet you can help me with some projects, and I can help you!”

No. He had not. “I do not require help from  _ anyone _ , Richards.” As he reached his door-Room 403-he turned and jabbed his finger into the taller man’s chest. “Weaker minds may require cooperation, but none can match the mind of  _ VICTOR VON DOOM _ . Now, I’ll be taking my leave of this mindless conversation, and-” When he pressed his hand against the door, it gave way...much too easily. Victor stumbled into his room, a place that had been a bastion of privacy and simple pleasures for the few days he’d spent alone, to discover the only thing worse than listening to Richards speak another word. 

He had a roommate. And he was a  _ Football Scholarship _ . Sitting on the formerly empty bed on the lefthand side of the dorm was a giant man, wide in every respect. He was as if a Mountain had decided to enter college. He was taller than Victor-And still taller than Richards. His shirt was brown, with the name of some Athlete that Victor had no reason to care about. 

“Hey there, roomie! M’names Ben Grimm! And-” His expression shifted to one of surprise and glee. 

“REED?!”

Victor felt himself be shoved to the side as Richards barreled into the room, embracing the other insult to his privacy. 

“I presume you know each other…?” 

The large one lifted Richards up, laughing deeply. “Haw! Know each other? We’re practically brothers!” 

Richards laughed, before dropping down and shaking his head. “We grew up together, Victor. And Ben, I can’t believe it! You got in!”

“Hey, you gotcha brains, I got the brawn.” 

“And NEITHER of you will have  _ me _ .” Victor interjected, the feeling of nausea at the idea of remaining anywhere near the two of them reaching the point of overwhelming him. Victor stalked out to find a way to be as far away from the two as possible, to find someone that he could petition to allow him a more private residence. 

Little did he know, Reed Richards would become the most important man he’d ever met. 


	2. TWO

 

In the coming weeks, Reed Richards discovered that Empire State not only offered the most amazing scientific resources he’d ever encountered, but the most incredible people! Ben Grimm at his side, he felt himself emerging from his former shell...let himself be comfortable with other people without the act of put-on friendliness. Sue Storm, an incredibly physicist. Her younger brother Johnny, who spent most of his time at the college-Because their father was a professor! And their mother worked in the administrative areas of the school, which...the idea of an entire family living at a school was slightly insane. But he met others-Richard Parker, a slightly over-serious man who was dead-set on his choice to join S.H.I.E.L.D to pay off his student loans, or the son of Howard Stark, who only came to the school to find what sort of parties he could have-He was tired of the place by the end of their first semester, finding somewhere else to sow his wild oats. But there remained one enigma…

Victor Von Doom. 

Despite his initial coldness, and Ben’s initial impression of “That jerk’s askin fer a  **CLOBBERIN’** !”, Reed was...drawn to him. He saw the other as a mirror image, someone that represented what he had been, what he COULD’VE been. Grim and arrogant, too wrapped up in his own mind to listen to what anyone else had to say. Fortunately, Victor was drawn to him as well. Within a week, the Latverian man approached Reed with a sour face...and an odd proposal. 

“I’ve had time to take my measure of the rest, Richards, and they...come short.”

“Excuse me?’ Reed looked up from his initial designs for a research rocket with confusion, staring at his peer as he sat at the desk in his dorm. 

“None of them can keep up with my mind!! It’s... _ INFURIATING! _ They take my intelligence as an insult, or simply lose track of a simple conversation! Not even Professor Van Dyne could follow a conversation with me for more than a few moments. But at every turn, I see your name-In the running for the same honours, in the same high-demand classes, whispered in the same breath by our lessers-To them, we are twin titans, and I am tired of attempting to dissuade their thoughts.”

“...So…?”

“We’re going to play chess now, Richards.” 

And so they played, resulting in an eventual stalemate. This went on for quite some time-They’d meet once a week, talk about things that nobody else they knew would be able to keep up with, and fail to beat each other at Chess. Until, in the third semester of their freshman year…

 

“I think you should socialize more.” Reed, playing White, moved his first pawn. 

Victor rolled his eyes, shifting his first as well. “This is not our usual topic for conversation. I had hoped to discuss the recent trade deal Wakanda has made with France-And the variety of technology being shown to the outside world from it.”

“That can wait, Victor. It’s not like the information will disappear-In fact, wouldn’t it be better to wait until more has been revealed to the public? Heresay isn’t exactly your style.” Reed shifted his knight forwards, flanking his pawn.

Victor waited for a moment, before pushing his rook forwards on the board, right behind his own pawn. “I don’t believe the status of my social life will be any more enlightening. 

“But that’s the thing, Victor! I know you hate the idea of needing someone else’s help, but the conversations I’ve had with my friends have given me so many ideas. Tony was only here for a few weeks and he managed to get me interested in energy manipulation technology-I beat you out for that award with my Charge Disruptor.” 

Victor pressed the offensive, moving a pawn out to allow his Bishop the chance to move on his next turn. “A prize I desired, but felt no grief in losing. Because through my own cunning, I designed a superior battery-One that net me three awards from different organizations.” 

“We both know you don’t actually care about the rewards-All you care about is the respect.” Reed took Victor’s first pawn with his knight, but Victor was wary to take the offending piece-It’d put him in position for one of Richards favourite strategies. 

“And why should I not? Respect is the only thing of value the less intelligent can grant their superiors.” Victor took a page from Reed’s book, shifting his rook to the other side of the board. A seemingly random move, one that he disliked taking...but one that may yet win him the victory. 

“Respect, yes, but without anything else, Respect is little more than a passing recognition. They’ll be aware of you, but not of who you are-And I think they deserve at least that.” 

“Oh? And why is that, exactly?”

“You’re a brilliant man, Victor, and a noble soul. I believe that everyone would be able to see that if you just opened yourself up.”

“If they cannot see my nobility now, then damn their blind eyes.”

“Look, I had a point in all this-We’re both going to the next presentation Ho Yinsen is making here, right? He’s put out a request for designs that could save the world. I want to wager something, Victor.”

“Go on with it.”

“I say we both make something, and by next month, we both submit them to him. Whoever’s work is chosen...wins!”

“And what will I win, exactly?”

“IF you win, I’ll put your initials in every design I make from now until I die, to remind the future generations that you were my better, Victor.”

As Victor prepared to respond, more engaged by the conversation than the game, he realized that he’d just taken Reed’s final pawn with his own king...leaving them both with their kings as the only pieces on the board. 

“Damn us and our perfectly symmetrical strategy. That’s a rather hefty prize, Richards, but one I’d be delighted to receive. What can you desire that could possibly match it’s worth?”

“Unlike you, Victor, my Pride isn’t the most important thing in my life. All I want if I win...is for you to go out for Coffee with me and the gang.”

Victor stood, holding his hand out with a smug smirk. “Then let’s make it official.”

Reed shook his hand, smiling back. “I promise, you won’t find me an easy opponent.”

“Hah! I’d be disappointed in you if I did.”

 

The inspection of their designs took almost ten minutes. Victor had submitted a machine that’d be able to pacify everyone in an area, make them unable to act violently-The only issue was a power source. It’d require more energy than most nuclear power plants could produce. Reed on the other hand...had drawn up designs for a Viewpoint Chamber-a massive computer that would connect to two human minds, before showing them the other’s memories, experiences, feelings. 

“I...Hm. These are both incredible ideas, gentlemen...but I am afraid i must choose…”

Victor smirked once again, extremely ready to always have an anecdote prepared-Of the famous Reed Richards, and the origin of his curious design habit. 

“...The Viewpoint Chamber. Victor, your design for the Pacifying Field is incredible, but it would best be served as something to repress violence in an isolated manner, and not a long term solution. And I fear what would occur if someone were to find some way to inhibit its effects on themselves and no others.”

Reed Richards clapped his hand against Victor’s shoulder, sighing. “Sorry, Victor, but if it helps...I’m buying.”

“Shut the hell up.” 

 

“Nah.” Ben shook his head. “I ain’t doin’ it.”

“Ben, please! You’re the only person who hasn’t canceled.”

“No, I ain’t, I’m just the last one who did. No idea what you see in him, Reed, but all he sees in anyone else is somethin’ in his way. If I gotta spend more than a minute with him I’m liable t’knock his head off his shoulders.”

“I...yes, you’re probably right.” Everyone had their own reasons, and their own opinions about Victor, but they all had a connecting thread: He was insufferable. 

Which lead to…

 

**THE COFFEE DATE**

“So, what are you getting?” Reed adjusted his coat a little as he and Victor waited in line. The cafe was a favourite gathering spot for students at the university, but due to a concert being held that day, most were elsewhere. Victor was wearing a large, dark green shawl, an oddly old-country accessory for his usually modern wardrobe. 

“You’ll mock me.”

“I promise, Victor, I won’t mock you.”

“Coffee makes me sick.”

“Really?”

“When I was growing up, there was little with caffeine, and nothing with the same bitterness. My stomach doesn’t seem to agree with it. You said this place serves tea?”

“Yes, but I’ve never had it. I think I’ve got the opposite problem-I’ve been drinking coffee since I was a sophmore in highschool. When I try tea? It’s always just...leaf water.”

“That’s the mark of truly awful tea, Richards.” They were finally up to the counter. 

“I’ll have one latte, shot of cream and a little sugar.”

“If you have any tea from Latveria, I will take that. If not, a breakfast tea shall do.” 

The clerk stared at them for a moment, before nodding, charging Reed for the two drinks. “Your order will be ready in a few minutes.”

The two took a seat by the window, Victor carefully draping his cloak off the back of his seat while Reed kept his coat on. 

“So, Latveria.”

“...Yes?” Victor had started to reach for a magazine, but simply leaned on the table. “That is my nation of origin.”

“I was trying to ask you what it was like, Victor. You’ve got your own opinions of Americans, which you’ve made...abundantly clear. But I don’t think I know enough about your country to have my own opinion.”

“Well...I am but one voice, but for the Romani, Latveria is hell.”

“Romani?”

“You call us Gypsies, a term coined by an idiot who thought we were from Egypt.” 

“Huh. I mean, if you don’t want to talk about it, we don’t have to-”

“I am of greater mental fortitude than  _ that _ , Richards.” Victor scoffed, already looking displeased. Reed decided to make perhaps his best choice in their friendship yet-He turned the topic back to Victor. 

“So then tell me about the Romani and how Latveria treated them.” 

“Well...When I was a child, my mother sold her soul to protect us from the King’s soldiers, and was then killed by the King’s soldiers. Then, the King tried to force my father to cure cancer, and when he failed we ran into the mountains, he died of exposure, and I was raised by the tribe.”

“Your mother  _ sold her soul _ ?”

“Yes, to a demon.”

“You...you’re pulling my leg, Vic.”

Victor rolled his eyes. “I do not blame you for disbelief-If I had not spent the years before my time here researching magic, I might have been in your shoes.”

Reed chuckled, just as the bell was rung for their orders. “Ah! I’ll get it. But...I’m sorry, I think I’m not laughing because I think you’re lying...I think I’m laughing because I think you  _ aren’t _ .”

Reed stood and took the two drinks, setting them down as he headed back. Victor had taken a posture of interest-The same he had taken during their first game, when he realized Reed was keeping up with him. Leaning forwards on the table, a subtle smirk dancing across that jawline, and he had allowed his cowlick to curl over his face, having forgot to slick it back.

“I expect you to explain those words, Reed.” Reed. In the months they knew each other, that was the first time he had been Reed to him. 

“Well, you see-We both know that in the 1940s, the world at large met superhumans for the first time. Captain America, Namor, The Human Torch, The Vision. And even know, we’re hearing of other wonders-Hank Pym supposedly discovered a way to shrink matter, but refuses to tell others. Charles Xavier is developing theories on natural mutations creating incredible anomalies, and we’re seeing real evidence that this is the case. And now Magic is real and souls are a commodity? I welcome it! Because if we have something in front of us, something we can see, we can interact with, that means we can understand it! Harness it, progress with it! What used to be confined to-To science fiction, and fantasy, and myth, that can be real now! Listen, Victor, I love that magic is real. The universe is so vast, so beautiful, that it’s absurd to have your worldview challenged and react with disgust and rage and derision. Magic is REAL! And if a demon exists, that must assume an afterlife, or the concept of Sin being quantifiable…Is it only a Christian Hell-Analogue? Or could there be others, Greek, Egyptian...Norse?” Reed, ignoring his coffee, grabbed a napkin and drew his pen, quickly starting to scribble calculations. Victor, watching all this in a state of semi-awe, felt something strange in the pit of his chest. His heart was beating faster, and he didn’t know why. It...was probably the excitement Richards was displaying. 

“No, no, here, let me…” He moved around the table, giving Reed notes on the various formulae and graphs. Eventually, Victor drew his notebook from his cloak, and they copied every bit of information to it, and kept going. They spent hours in that Cafe, talking, laughing, expanding their theory. 

 

They had entered the cafe at 11:30 in the morning. When they left, it was 6 in the evening. 

“Your name is going first on the paper, Victor. You were the inspiration! You practically did sixty percent of the work!” Reed laughed, wrapping his arm around his friend’s shoulders. 

“No, Reed, you should be the first! You were the one who thought of it! I agree that I deserve my credit, but this was not a one-sided affair.” He was laughing as well, his own arm around Reed’s shoulders. 

“Fine, fine, what if we have them both at the same time-Just one above the other?”

“But then we’ll get into who deserves to be on top!” 

Reed pulled away, mimicking a mad scientist from a movie. “Damn us! Our eternal struggle will continue! Like Sisyphus we struggle!” 

Victor laughed just a bit louder, jabbing Reed lightly in the ribs. “If anything, I’d be the mad scientist. I’m trying to build a machine to let me see into Hell.” 

“I think that makes you more of an Evil Warlock.” 

They bantered on and on, all the way back to the dorms. As they walked through the halls, Victor noticed that Reed’s door was fast approaching. And he felt an odd impulse as it did-He didn’t want the day to end with a simple acknowledgement of how great a day it had been. He desired something  _ more _ . He reviewed the night, and came to the at-once-unfortunate-and-fortunate conclusion. 

He was falling in love. With the only mind he could ever consider his equal. The one mind that could challenge him, make him improve, make him better than he was simply by being near him. He’d already worked much harder in the last few weeks because of their rivalry...the more he considered it in that moment, the better it was. And Reed just...made him  _ feel good _ . 

“Well, this is my stop, Vict-” Before Reed could finish the sentence, Victor gripped the taller man’s face with both hands, looking him in the eyes. 

“U-Uh...Victor?” 

“I’m not a man who is very in tune with his emotions for the most part. But I know this-I’d like to start kissing you now, Reed. And this is not a joke, not simply a friendly display of camaraderie. You deserve someone who will challenge and improve you, just as I do-And I don’t want anyone other than you.” As he said it, he felt his face growing redder, heat spreading across it. And Reed’s face was doing the same. 

“I-I mean, I’m flattered-I, but-” 

‘ _ Do you want to kiss me or not, you goddamned fool?” _

Reed’s eyes unfocused for a moment, seeming to run the numbers. It was the same expression he had whenever he was deep in thought, but when he came back to reality...his answer was decidedly nonverbal. 

Now, while the relationship that blossomed was beautiful, one must remember: These two men had never truly had a serious relationship before, and especially never considered one with a man. So while their kiss was passionate, excited, and joyous...it was probably the objectively worst kiss you could imagine. Their breath tasted of the drinks that made each other sick, and their lips locked awkwardly. But they continued, holding each other closer, kissing deeper, breathing a barely remembered and utterly optional action. 

Until the door opened.

Because Ben was in the room, attempting to write an essay for a class he was struggling in. 

And he’d heard the noises they’d been making. 

Reed and Victor stared at him, like deer in headlights, as their shock kept them from breaking away from the kiss. Ben did the same, staring at them as if they’d both come to the door naked and slathered in honey, attempting to get him to join them. 

“I don’t think this is any’a Aunt Petunia’s favourite nephew’s business, so I’m’unna just…” Ben slowly closed the door to the dorm, and as it shut once more, Reed and Victor broke from their passionate embrace. At once, they both started to speak. 

“That was-” Victor started, before stopping because Reed began to talk. 

“I really-” Reed began, but quickly quieted himself because Victor had started.

“We should do this again-!” They both began again. Victor pushed his hands out. 

“Okay, stop. I’m the one talking now. Do you want to be...in a romantic relationship?”

Reed responded immediately. “ _ Yes. _ ” 

“Good! Then, it’s...settled. We’re boyfriends now.” 

“...Have you ever dated anyone?” 

“No.”

“Same here.” 

The next day, they both caught each other at the library, looking for books on How To Date.


	3. THREE

The accident had been entirely avoidable. Victor knew it, Reed knew it, and they both ended up blaming themselves. The machine had been designed, meticulously, with an eye to detail that was impossible to criticize. Which made the fatal flaw in it so hard to notice. Which made Reed’s reluctance to offend his boyfriend so tragic. Which made Victor’s desire to make the man he was very sure he loved proud so saddening. 

Victor built a machine that’d let him see into Hell, based on the research he had done with Reed. 

 

The machine failed.

 

Violently. 

 

Nobody saw Victor Von Doom for two weeks after that.

 

Reed was horribly worried. Sue, Johnny, Ben, and oddly enough Richard Parker and his girlfriend had all tried to help him look. But past his short time in the school infirmary, to be prepared for a trip to the hospital, nobody could find Victor. He’d built, using the clock on the wall and the nurses cellphone, a device that blanked out the security cameras on his way out. Reed hadn’t heard from him, and nobody had any idea where he’d gone. That was, until he built...a scanner, about three days after the last time he’d seen his boyfriend.

“Uh...Reed? What is that?” Johnny had been asked to check up on him, as Ben and Sue were dealing with exams. 

“Oh, this? It’s…” He held the device up, inspecting his own work with some apprehension. He wasn’t...sure how to explain it. “It’s something I can use to find Victor.”

“Oh, hell yeah! Is it a Gaydar?” He meant well, but Reed felt the distinct urge to choke Jonathan Storm in that moment. 

“No, it isn’t a Gaydar.” Reed tuned the ovoid device slightly, sliding the panel over the exposed inner workings. “I’ve got to ask, could you go get me some cream soda from the cafeteria?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. After I get back, you wanna go out and look for him again?” Johnny didn’t wait for an answer, running out to grab the soda. Reed stood, quickly scribbling a note, and heading out.

 

I need to go to him alone. I’ll be back soon. Tell Sue and Ben not to worry.

You can have the cream soda.

Reed Richards

 

The signal led to a large, abandoned mansion just outside of the city. Reed stepped out of the cab, paying the man his thirty dollars (He really should’ve asked for a ride, that was insanely expensive for a cab ride and now he didn’t have a way back). He couldn’t turn back now, he  _ needed _ to know...what was even going on. Victor hadn’t spoken to him when he came to visit him. Nothing made any sense. Well, science made sense. That was the one thing that never stopped making sense. The scanner itself was tuned to the energy signature that Victor had been searching for, a signature that was uncommon in New York-But with the explosion, Reed realized that the damage would have exposed Victor to the energy itself. It wasn’t exactly radiation, but it had a half life like it. And the trail led to the decrepit building in front of him. Reed approached it, confident in his stride, a deep seed of worry in his gut. 

 

What he found was even worse than what he’d expected. In just the foyer, every mirror and window was smashed-the metal that wasn’t too tarnished to reflect anything was dented heavily, and across the walls were...messages. 

IM SORRY

MY FAULT

REED REED REED REED

RUINED

NEVER GOOD ENOUGH

VALERIA 

Reed followed the trail, through hallways of torn up wallpaper, smashed in doors, paintings with the faces torn away, and finally reached a final door. The trail was strongest here, indicating a presence in the last thirty minutes. The door was painted green, pristine, the only thing in the house that wasn’t peeling or broken. When Reed reached for the knob, he found it locked. Now, he wasn’t a strong man, or a heavy one. His knowledge of physics came at a detriment to his knowledge of lockpicking. But he  _ had _ grown up with Ben Grimm, and seen how his best friend got them into the junkyard so many times to get the scrap metal he needed for his projects. Reed walked into the nearest room, got a particularly heavy bust of some old man named Heinrich Zemo, and lifted it up over his head...before slamming it down on the doorknob, knocking the entire mechanism out of the hole it had been placed in. In the swinging motion, however, he had lost his grip on the bust, shattering the monocolled visage into so many chunks of...was that Granite? Cheap statue. When Reed pushed the now unlocked door open, he found that there WAS light, and not simply from now-empty windowframes. As he walked up the steep staircase, he took what he saw in. 

All around the room were various candles, the origins of which he couldn’t guess. But in the center was a hunched figure, kneeling on the ground, cloaked in a dark green fabric that looked to be some sort of curtain. 

“...Victor…?” 

The figure shifted, standing up slightly and pulling the cloak tighter around itself. It faced away, moving towards the far end of the room, towards a pile of boxes. 

“...Gh...Go away.” The voice was unmistakable, Victor’s baritone was there, but warped by days of silence and some vocal damage-The doctors had said as much. 

“Victor, I can’t just go away. We’re all worried about you.”

“Doesn’t matter...I...I’m an id-idiot, and a fool, and I can’t….I don’t...deserve...worry.” 

“Victor, that’s not true.” Reed took a step closer, but Victor turned, still holding the green cloak around him tightly. 

“YES, I-IT IS.” Victor doubled over, the sudden increase in volume more of a strain than he’d expected. His body shook with coughs, and before Reed could rush to his side, a hand pushed out from the folds of cloth-He was wearing the shirt he had when he’d been injured, but it was torn, and there were scratch marks all over his arm. 

“Victor…” Reed stopped, heart pounding in his ears. He hadn’t had any idea it was  _ this bad _ . 

“I’m...I’m ruined. I was n-never meant...to succeed. F-Fate chose my path when I was b-born. N-Never meant for love, for happiness…”

“I’m not listening to this anymore. Victor, please, just come back and get help. I don’t-I don’t believe a word you’re saying!” Reed felt his throat ache, desperate to hold back the tears that wanted to flow.

“D-Doesn’t matter...belief isn’t...t-the arbiter of truth.”

“Victor, no matter what, I…” His words caught in his throat. He wasn’t even sure what he was going to say until he said it. 

“I love you no matter what.”

Victor made a choked noise, a halfway measure between a scream and a sob. His throat was ragged, his body twisted oddly, and his voice gravelly. 

“H-How could you...Lhh...love a man who looks...LIKE….THIS?!” He threw the cloak away, revealing what had happened. Scar tissue covered his face, marring the once sharp features. His hair was mostly burnt away atop his head, only just starting to grow back in where it could-Gone was his little cowlick curl. His lips were twisted, his throat covered in the same scars. It was a wonder Victor could even speak. Reed, despite his shocked expression, felt no revulsion. The reason his stomach dropped was because it had happened to Victor. 

There was a silence in the air, until Reed broke with his step forwards. 

“Nnh...No! Stay back! I’m a wreck, a ffr...fragment, I don’t deserve you…”  

Reed clutched his boyfriend’s head, pressing his lips to VIctor’s. Despite the injuries, these were still Victor’s lips. He broke the kiss a moment later, staring into the other’s eyes intently. 

“You aren’t a fragment of anything. You’re Victor Von Doom. Scars and all, I’ll still love you until the day I die.” The tears were flowing, from the both of them. 

“Rh...Reed…” They both slowly fell to their knees, Reed pulling Victor into an embrace that was reciprocated. They sat like that for a time, just feeling each other’s heartbeat. 

“I...Love you...t-too.” 

“And hey, if we get married, your name is still going to be on every single one of my designs anyway. We both won that bet.”

Victor’s shudders were hard to distinguish-was he crying, or laughing? 

“You knn...know exactly when to ss-say the wrong thing at the r-right time, Reed.” 

“I know. It’s what I’m second best at. First best is loving you.”

Victor came back. It was everyone’s fault. It was nobody’s fault. But the most important thing was that they moved on from it. They grew from it, picked each other up. Uplifted each other. Dating for Dummies was right about that, at least. 


	4. FOUR

 

Reed and Victor were married after college, a wedding that made headlines-They’d designed and sold so many inventions that were entering the public eye that it was hard to avoid it. Reed and Victor, along with Ben, Sue, and Johnny, became known as the Fantastic Five. However, just like the last time something that Reed and Victor were involved with became relatively stable, it seemed that Fate was simply winding up for another swing of the ol’ Destiny Slugger.

 

On their trip up to investigate a gravitational anomaly in a space station Reed and Victor had designed, Sue, Ben, Reed, and Johnny were belted by cosmic rays that the shuttle hadn’t been designed to withstand! Victor, spared from the exposure by his advanced Spacewalk suit, barely managed to pilot them back to earth. Finding that his love and closest friends had been mutated by the radiation, Victor suggested they stay hidden from the world to try and understand their powers better. Reed, however, had a better idea. They would make the name “Fantastic Five” mean something more-They’d become SUPERHEROES! 

Ben Grimm, the ever-loving blue eyed thing! A titanic dark red rock man with incredible strength!

Sue Storm, The Invisible Woman! With the ability to create and manipulate unseen force fields and turn near anything completely invisible!

Johnny Storm, The Human Torch! With a cry of “FLAME ON!”, he could wreath himself in blue flame!

Victor Von Doom, wielding incredible magics and wearing incredible flying armor! Does he really need a codename?!

Reed Richards, Doctor Fantastic! With an incredible mind and a stretching body, he’s more than capable as the leader of the quintet!

 

Victor held the comic book in one hand, glancing up to Johnny. The youngest member of the group had brought it in as a sample-Apparently, some company called “Marvel Comics” had approached them for a deal that involved publishing accounts of their adventures in comic form, providing an issue recounting their origins as an example. 

“This...Johnny…” Victor wanted to be brutally honest, but the hopeful look on the young man’s face made him falter. 

“We should probably...talk to the others before we accept anything.”

“Ben actually knows the two guys that run the company! They grew up on Yancy Street with him.”

Victor stood, rubbing his chin slowly. His scars had never really healed, and sometimes he still had moments where he considered himself horrifying to regard, but the mask he wore into combat helped with public perception-And Ben had been turned from a (though he’d never have admitted at the time) handsome man into a rocky hulk. Victor had no place to complain, especially with his Husband’s reassurances. 

“Take this to your sister, ask her opinion. While I won’t stop this, I disapprove of the...writing style. I’d like one of us to at least approve each issue before publication.”

“Got it! Man, Spidey’s gonna be jeal _ ous _ when I tell him we have a comic!” Johnny turned and ran towards the engineering sector of the Baxter Compound, their expansive home just outside of New York proper. It was nice to be close to the city, but the things they experimented with (and the people that often tried to attack them) were too dangerous for a major population center. Johnny often flew into the city to meet his friends, more often than not the hero known as Spider-Man. Victor suspected there was some sort of attraction there, as it seemed nearly everything Johnny did outside of the team was to impress the other. 

 

With the memories of that fateful day refreshed in his mind, Victor headed off for Reed’s labs, adjusting his armor to let the Unstable Molecule cape unfurl. He loved the blue it added to his armor, which had long ago lost the navy blue paintjob it had when first constructed. The 5 emblem that stood out on his chest was spared this fate, but only because it was literally etched into the metal. As he walked, he passed Ben carrying a large machine over his shoulder. The strength of The Thing still shocked Victor sometimes. His armor could do incredible things with its hydraulic strength, but Ben could juggle ten ton weights if he wished. 

“Hey Vic. Did Johnny show ya the comic?”

“Yes. It was…” Victor searched for the most polite term he could find.

“Yeah, I get it. Love those guys, but Stan can get a little Purple in his prose. Jack did great on the art though.”

“Yes...and I appreciate that they didn’t try to guess at what my scars looked like. Still, I don’t believe I’m the person to ask about things like that.”

“Eh, prob’ly not. You seen Sue? She was askin’ Reed to return this thing because she needs it for the new Fantasticar. He kept puttin’ it off because it was generatin’ the power for another portal to another whoozit that had more freaks I hadda clobber back through when they inevitably started swarmin’. This time it wuz bugs, last time it wuz squids, time b’fore that it was vampires…”

“And before that, I believe it was rock men.”

“Haw! Miss those little tykes. Gave me the adoration I deserve.”

“Well, I think Sue is in engineering now. I sent Johnny there to see what she thought of the comic.”

Ben nodded, heading down the hall. “Gotta tell ya, I’m glad we got her around. Johnny’s into cars, but she’s the real greasemonkey ‘round here.”

“That reminds me, that comic book said Reed and I designed the armor-That was her and I.” 

“Ah, didn’t even catch that. They must’a...overlooked her.” Ben smiled ear to ear, despite not having any. “Awh, lookit what you made me do, Vic. Now I’m on another Pun kick.”

“O, woe be to us.” Victor placed his limp wrist against his forehead and feigned despair. “Cruel fates, why hath thee cursed me so?”

“It’s revenge for the rocket thing!”

“Do I need to keep apologizing for that?”

“Am I still made of rocks?”

“...Yes.”

“Then yeah.” Ben smiled, gently socking Victor in the arm and heading off. Victor winced, glad that he was wearing his armor. They joked, but it was hard to find it funny when you were the only person responsible for his transformation that wasn’t made of rubber. 

 

“Careful…” Reed lowered the sample towards the corona of energy that had formed around the reduced portal, interested to see how a sample of stone from the Negative zone would interact with the radiation from the Persial dimension. The manipulator arms were perfectly calibrated, the monitoring equipment was primed, everything was perfect…

“Goggles, my love.”

Reed blinked, realizing that Victor had come into the lab while he was focusing on the analysis-And that he’d forgotten to wear his protective goggles. 

“Right. It’s unlikely that the reaction will be that severe-”

“I’d rather have a husband who can see than a husband who gambled with his eyesight.”

“...Good point.” As he kept his eyes locked on the controls, he stretched his hand out, grabbing them and haphazardly slapping them onto his head. 

“Did you want to talk about something?” Reed turned back to his experiment, starting to lower it again. When Victor responded, it was the filtered voice he had when he was wearing the mask-It had built in protective lenses. 

“Not particularly, we just never do labwork together anymore. I really missed that.”

“Awh, dear…” Reed decided to let the monitors record the reaction. He turned, cupping his husband’s cheek with one hand. “Take that mask off for a second. I want to kiss you.”

“Sounds like a plan.” 

And as their lips met, a burst of light filled the entire laboratory, and three weeks later they patented the Von Doom-Richards Hyperlamp for use in space exploration. 

A week after that they had to fight a ghost monster made out of all the hyperlamps. 

The Black Panther was there.

It was awesome.


End file.
